Procter & Gamble’s Oral-B high-tech tootbrush has competition from startup Beam Technologies, which has raised a $5 million Series A round from venture firm Drive Capital, Tim Hay reports for VentureWire. The company’s sensor-outfitted brush measures how often a person brushes, and for how long. It also communicates with a mobile app that starts a two-minute timer when the user begins brushing his or her teeth, and then gives the user the chance to hear music or watch video clips from other apps during the two-minute timeframe. The company is working out new uses for the data collected by the toothbrush.

ALSO IN TODAY’S VENTUREWIRE (subscription required):

Arcus Ventures, an oncology-oriented health-care investment fund, has held a second closing of its latest fund to increase the total to $45 million. The firm seeks $75 million for Arcus Ventures Fund II LP and expects to close the partnership by the end of the year.

All Def Digital, a digital media company co-founded by hip hop impresario Russell Simmons, has raised a $5 million Series A round led by Greycroft Partners. Entertainment industry veteran Shari Redstone also invested through her early stage firm Advancit Capital.

Casper Sleep, a New York startup that makes and sells mattresses online, raised $13.1 million in a Series A round of venture funding led by New Enterprise Associates.

Movile, a Sao Paulo-based company, has raised $55 million in equity and debt to expand its online e-commerce services offline. Innova Capital led the $35 million equity portion of the Series D round with participation from existing investor Naspers.

(VentureWire is a daily newsletter with comprehensive analysis of all the investments, deals and personnel moves involving start-ups and their venture backers. For a two-week trial, click here.)

ELSEWHERE AROUND THE WEB:

In Defense of Silicon Valley’s Arrogance. Lately there’s been a backlash against the “arrogant f—-s” of Silicon Valley, but more often than not, when the Valley’s startups brag that they’re doing what established corporations and government can’t, they’re right, says Joel Stein for Bloomberg Businessweek…Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher says the article ends up reinforcing many negative perceptions of Silicon Valley rather than changing them…Y Combinator’s Sam Altmanhas two pieces of advice for entrepreneurs who might be seen as arrogant: “One, don’t claim you’re changing the world until you’ve changed it. Two, ignore the haters and work on whatever you find interesting.”…and Kevin Roose says that while the idea that Silicon Valley is the target of mass revulsion is a tempting frame for a story, it’s also often wildly exaggerated–most of the country actually loves tech companies.

Raising Money as a Woman in Silicon Valley. A female startup founder anonymously shares her experience as the subject of sexist-or-worse behavior, writing in a Forbes article that mistreatment of female founders is a feature, not a bug, of Silicon Valley.

Which Technologies do AngelList Startups Use?Leo Polovets, an early engineer at LinkedIn and Factual and now a partner at Susa Ventures, digs into AngelList’s internal data for clues into which technologies are actually in use among startups, and whether great startups use different technologies than no-so-great startups. Among the observations: Ruby on Rails is super-popular, and developing for iOS is slightly more popular than developing for Android.

Oh Thank Heaven, Even 7-Eleven Has a VC Arm. Google has Google Ventures, Intel has Intel Capital and believe it or not, 7-Eleven has a venture capital arm, too — 7-Ventures. Re/code’s Ina Fried interviewed a 7-Eleven vice president to find out what they’re up to.

Marc Andreessen’s Latest Twitter Innovation. When Hillel Fuld–CMO of Zula, tech blogger and startup adviser–wanted to interviewMarc Andreessen, he figured they’d do it over email or Twitter direct message. But no: Andreessen wanted to do it publicly over Twitter. So they did, and Andreessen answered the simple but provocative question: Who is Marc Andreessen?

LPs Are Watching VCs Very Closely. In part two of a StrictlyVC interview with Chris Douvos of fund of funds Venture Investment Associates, the limited partner had some interesting comments about how LPs view venture firms right now:

“LPs are putting their GPs under an enormous amount of pressure right now as they evaluate if they even want to invest in venture capital. Aside from the [roughly] dozen firms that don’t need to worry about fundraising, everyone seems to be on the ‘watch list’ right now. Proof points — whether they’re nice exits or strong telltales of progress — can mean the difference between an easy fundraise and a protracted slog for that stressed-out board member of yours.”

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Produced by the editors of Dow Jones VentureWire, Venture Capital Dispatch tracks the fast-moving developments at the intersection of high-tech innovation and venture capital finance. Featuring the VentureWire reporting team in the Silicon Valley, New York, Boston and Shanghai tech centers, Venture Capital Dispatch provides insight into the newest start-ups and latest trends in venture capital investing. Write us at VCdispatch@dowjones.com. For more information on Dow Jones products covering venture capital and other financial markets, go to http://pevc.dowjones.com.